I’m curious about why slowing down for a Stop sign and then carrying on through the intersection without coming to a full stop is called a “California Stop” …?
Where did this originate? Is it a common expression in North America?
(I’m in British Columbia, Canada).
S.
It (supposedly) originated and is most common in CA. It’s actually called a “CA rolling stop”.
STOP: Slightly Tap On Pedal.
Here in St. Louis, it’s called a “St. Louis stop” or a “city stop” because of the annoying practice of the City of St. Louis to put a stop sign at virtually every corner.
When I lived in western Kentucky it was called an “Illinois stop” presumably as a slur on the driving habits of drivers in southern Illinois (just across the river from where I lived.)
I have also heard it called “genuflecting” which the Catholics on the board will have no trouble figuring out.
Out here we would call that a comma.
Down here in SE TN I’ve heard it called a ‘New York stop’, though I never heard it called that when I lived up there.
You are of course referring to the famous California LOOKOUT stop.
That is where you holler LOOKOUT as you roll through the stop sign.
I have heard it called a Hollywood Stop, which stems from the fact that people in movies never stop. I imagine California stop is an extension of that.
I was kind of surprised when I saw you were from Canada, Stainz. Don’t know what city/province you’re in, but in Montreal we call it an “American Stop”. Man, my driving teacher gave me shit about my “American Stops”. Good question as to why. Most American cities I’ve driven in (many) have MUCH better drivers (as far as rules of the road is concerned) than us (Quebecois).
We drive like idiots. And it’s either “conform or die” on our roads. Because of that, I think we end up being better DEFENSIVE drivers than most.
But still ~ why does the “California stop” as you say (never heard of it personally but I would love a California King bed), and the “American stop” connote such bad driving behaviour?
Great question.
Mmm. We called it a New Orleans Stop when I lived down there. Wherever there are bad drivers, I suppose, the (local name) Stop will be there.
Oh now you’ve got me even MORE curious, Stainz! In 10 posts, we’ve got it being called:
~ California Stop
~ St.Louis Stop
~ New York Stop
~ Hollywood Stop
~ New Orleans Stop
(Sorry about saying I didn’t know what province you were from… I meant city but it came out like that)
I’m wondering if people in London England call it a “Manchester Stop” for example. GREAT question! And still, we have no answers as to WHY it is called this. I guess GMRyujin hit the nail on the head when saying “Wherever there are bad drivers, I suppose, the (local name) Stop will be there.”
Yes, St. Louis stop signs are genuinely frustrating. There’s even one on Compton near Chouteau that comes and goes (it’s only there about one random day a week, and sometimes it’s on the wrong side of the road!).
AND, I used to live in So. IL (near Carbondale), and I will say that there should be no Kentuckians casting aspersions on the driving skills of anyone! 
I was always astounded on my occasional trips down to Paducah to find parking lots full of cars sitting every which way in (and on, and across, etc.) the lines in the parking lot. Not to mention people always seeming to turn right or left from the regular lanes when right/left turn lanes are available, totally ignoring the turn lanes and the vehicles in them.
As for the OP, I’ve only heard it called a “rolling stop.” no regional tags applied.
Californian here, now living in New York. In the Bay Area, we referred to it as a Rolling Stop, but also did call it a California Stop, too.
What I want to Trademark is the term "East Coast Left"™. When I moved to New York, I encountered it for the first time and have since witnessed it up and down the East Coast, but never really saw it in California. It’s when the light turns green and the car across the intersection from you in the left-turn bay throws itself into the left turn before the cars coming in the other direction, who have the legal right of way, have a chance to accelerate. Drives me flippin’ nuts - it is so rude.
A little story.
A number of years ago I was working as a glorified goffer in a musical theater project in LA. I was asked to drive one of the participants, the venerable songwriter Sammy Cahn (yes, shameless namedropping there), to the theater. I picked him up at his impressive Hollywood home. As we drove along, I stopped (well, slowed down substantially, really) at the Hollywood stop signs, just like the good NYC driver I am. This bothered him to no end. “Go! Just go!” he barked at me whenever I so much as touched the break. All I could think of were the headlines that would result if we got involved in a fatal crash: “Stuyguy Kills Legendary Hollywood Songwriter.” Just what I needed.
Ahh, Sammy, I miss ya’.
“In Brazil, we just call them nuts”.
Had to throw it out!
MtM
On Mars, they’re called Saturn stops.
Incidentally, San Francisco has the most obnoxious stop signs I’ve ever encountered (maybe this situation exists elsewhere, but I’ve found it only in SF). In some residential neighborhoods there they put up 4-way stop signs on just about every corner but they do not mark them as such. Every other municipality marks their 4-ways. Why not SF?
In case you think it makes little difference, you are grossly mistaken. If you encounter a 4-way, you stop, and if there are no other cars stopped at the other 3 signs, you can obliviously plow straight ahead confident that any other approaching cars will be obligated to stop for you. Essentially right-of-way shifts between the various drivers approaching the intersection.
At a non-4-way stop you do not have the right-of-way, period. You stop, check for oncoming traffic down the entire length of the intersecting street, and proceed only if and when it is clear.
Driving through one of these SF neighborhoods at night (when you can’t see if there are stop signs at all corners) is a maddening excercise of “stop-creep-look-go-roll for 50 feet-repeat.” You dare not presume that a non-marked stop sign is really a 4-way because the results could be disasterous.
I’m used to hearing it as the California Roll.
When I drove a taxi in Vermont I called it a Hollywood stop - because
Would it be even better called the “right coast left?” I’ve only seen it once in my life, except for the time I actually did it once… and the scary part was that I did it automatically, without really thinking. The guy in the oncoming lane didn’t react to the green light, and I robotically calculated that I could whip a fast left without getting hit, so I did.
Now, there’s may also be the “West Coast Right” that I’ve only seen out here… when there’s two right hand turn lanes that intersect at a light, drivers in both lanes will make rights on red… I thought it was only legal for the far right turn lane.